


Santa Inc.: Unseen Footage

by penombrelilas (crookedspoon)



Series: Days Gone By [30]
Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Alternate Universe, Christmas, Community: 31_days, Community: prompt-in-a-box, Elves, Gen, M/M, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000, Wordcount: 100-2.000, Wordcount: Over 1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-08-14
Updated: 2009-08-14
Packaged: 2017-12-09 10:36:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/773212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crookedspoon/pseuds/penombrelilas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>Sometimes letters are better left unopened. Sometimes, however, knowing their contents can help save lives.</em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Santa Inc.: Unseen Footage

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for #34 "They took Christmas away." (River, Ep. 09 - "Ariel") @ prompt-in-a-box's Round 17 "Firefly Quotes Vol. 2" and August 14th, 2009 "will you catch if I'm falling?" @ 31_days
> 
> Takes place after [Santa Inc.: Behind the Scenes](http://archiveofourown.org/works/312463).

If you're long enough in any business, all its pecularities blend to an easily comprehensible routine – such as receiving letters by the millions every year. Among all the letters Yuuji had read (and Yuuji had read many, as even a maid-of-all-work gets their fair share of letters-that-are-not-addressed-to-you-but-which-you-have-to-read-anyway-and-go-get-me-another-coffee-while-you're-at-it), the one he kept turning this way and that in his hands was unlike any of the others. Oh, it was ordinary enough, plain and slim and yellow-brown in color, the kind you can buy anywhere, with something stiff (like glass? A picture in a frame, perhaps) encased in the air cushion. And it did not tick when he held it to his ear. In total: Nothing fancy, nothing suspicious.

It was just... something about it puzzled him: there was no address, no sender, no nothing. How was he supposed to know who should read it? Maybe one of the workers replaced the envelope before it could be labeled and found its way to his incoming mail pile by accident; or maybe it was a prank – unlikely as that was, since he would know about it (which was not to say that he had a finger in every pie!). Or maybe it was something else entirely – he did not have a brain like Koharu, who might be able to deduce the right answer based on... well, all the clues he would be sure to find.

Anyway, Yuuji not being one to pass up the chance of acquiring information (which was just another way of saying he was ~~nosy~~ _interested_ ), he brandished his paper knife, slew the envelope and fished out contents that gushed from the wound.

Only to be disappointed.

Here he'd been, hoping the Mysterious Letter contained the long overdue photo of Koharu he'd been waiting for longer than his next birthday, and what did he find? A CD case. Huh. Who sends these? Now, if this was indeed from Koharu and there were pictures on it he expected Yuuji to print out and frame himself, this very same Yuuji would need to have a word with Konjiki-san again. And not a very pleasant one at that.

Speaking of pleasant... Yuuji's cheeks suddenly heated up like an overclocked processing unit. Could he— No, Koharu could not, _would not_ have planted a camera in their bedroom somehow. Should not have at the very least! Then again, as much as his brains might be the size of a solar system he never knew when and where to stop. Or even how.

Oh, this was killing him. His curiosity raged like a sea monster demanding another sacrifice, sending him flying to his desk with a speed that rivaled Superman's. Appeasing it was imperative order. His chair gave an inadequate squeak of protest as he plunged into it, his CD drive an ill-tempered whine as he opened it and the stack of papers he knocked over a— well, Yuuji had failed to notice its existence, so how could he listen to any of its complaints?

There it was: there truely _was_ a video. His hyperactive imagination didn't just get the better of him. If he had one copy, how many more could there be? Damn. His heart was beating wildly as though galloping to a faraway land where it could hide in ~~shame~~ peace.

Wait. What did Gin always say? "Look for solid evidence before jumping to conclusions," or some such. Right, Koharu wouldn't pass up the chance of leaving him some inappropriate remark or other. This letter was too impersonal for him, and yawned with the lack of a hand-signed note or any kind of message. Now who was sending their porn around the internal mail without regard of whoever might find it?

But since it had already reached the belly of Yuuji's computer, it might as well be digested. So he clicked.

And wished he hadn't. Never clicked, never opened the letter, never found it in the first place.

"Oh God. Oh, no. No, no, no."

He sat there, unable to move, frozen like a tree in winter or a glacier all year round, unable to take his eyes away. It was a train wreck.

What he saw was shadowy at best, a patchwork sewn up with various shades of darkness and bad quality too, but it was enough to distinguish the one face on the screen. It gleamed with sweat, eyebrows knit together, lips compressed to a tight line, eyes frightened and resigned, in that kind of forlorn " _why-me?_ " expression Yuuji knew so well. Something else was gleaming too, something thin and long, and Yuuji could only think that whoa, wasn't that dangerous so close to the throat?

 _"If you care about this man's life,"_ poor quality could not have distorted the speaker and his voice more, sketchy as they were, _"you'll shut down your business within two days of receiving this message. If you don't..."_

That pointy, gleamy something caught the light for effect, and Yuuji fell unconscious. Or, in reality his computer did, which in itself was enough to make him want to faint for real. In his haste, he had forgotten to save the last report he had been working on!

Not that it mattered anymore. He would lose his job if they closed down the business. And there was no need for reports out on the streets, which was where he'd end up – the economy did not exactly look rosy for elves from Christmas Town. Somehow he desperately wanted to finish this report now. It might be his last.

 _Get a grip, Yuuji. That's not important at the moment._ He had no idea what exactly _was_ important now, shocked as he was still, only that reports and prospective unemployment did not fall under that category. That was something to worry about another day. First, he had to notify Shiraishi immediately, he would know how to proceed, and maybe the Department heads. If only his legs would move.

Think, Yuuji, and do it fast. Unsteady eyes scanned the room for a solution. They usually flew in the window if he waited long enough. His eyes stopped on the desk in front of him. The phone, of course. He picked up the receiver with trembling fingers and dialed the number of Shiraishi's office. Dialed wrong. Damn this nervousness; it was a symptom in people with stressful lives and as a general rule, Yuuji was never stressed out.

Except now.

And the music (or whatever the noise blaring out of broken speakers was supposed to represent) that grew in volume in front of his door like an incoming train, did not help him concentrate. Like, at _all_.

Wait. This noise could only mean one thing. Or one colleague.

" _Hikaru_ ," he screamed, voice edging on hysterical. "Get in here right now." Yuuji slammed his flat hand on the table. For emphasis, of course. He wasn't agitated or anything; he was fine! If he wanted to he could just strut out and pass on the information he got, he could. But, there was still the issue with his wobbly legs to consider which for some reason defied his control. He could jab his pen into them all he wanted (and tell you how ugh, painful that was), they refused to listen. Did they not realize that they had to help him reach the door, reach _some_ one to spread the word or they wouldn't need to go anywhere anymore apart from the grave? (Yuuji is known for overdramatizing unemployment.)

Someone above must have had mercy upon him, because moments later Hikaru poked his head in. Thankfully with the music turned off. "Yo, what's up with the screaming, senior? I'm not deaf, you know?"

"With that volume on you soon will be," Yuuji said dryly, by way of reply, before moving on to the urgent matters at hand. "Listen, there's a CD in my computer. I want you to take it out and run it in a safe environment; there might be a virus on it. And get the others. Hurry. It's important."

As expected, Hikaru didn't jump right away. He seemed rather swamped with so many tasks at once. He held his open palms in front of his chest as if to shield himself from the verbal barrage. "Hey, slow down and tell me what's going on, alright?"

"These guys... they want to raise the unemployment rate of elves by a hundred percent and make millions of children unhappy!"

Hikaru stared at him, bug-eyed and incredulous, as though he didn't understand a word Yuuji was saying. Yuuji though he had been crystal clear with his message. Okay, so maybe the examples were a bit overblown. But only a little.

It wasn't that uncommon anyway. There would always be people who wanted to abolish Christmas, for whatever reason, either because they envied children's happiness on those days or because they blamed Santa Inc. for their own small share on the market. Yuuji failed to understand, and frankly, he didn't want to.

"They what?!" Hikaru exclaimed. Quick as a flash, he rushed over to Yuuji's workstation and looked at the monitor, probabyly hoping to find a clue of what was going on. The display did not change his state of blackness for his eyes. He looked at Yuuji, his normally impassive face broken down in layers of confusion.

Yuuji took hold of Hikaru's wrist, somewhat harder than intended, but he needed something solid to hold on to. To steady him. He could count on Hikaru to do just that.

"Can't you see?" he whispered, fearing that else his voice might break. "They're about to take Christmas away."

"Again?!"

He should be used to it by now (as should Yuuji): something came up every year. The Higa grinches for example never gave up trying to sabotage the business. They wouldn't learn that by now the people in Christmas Town were aware of them and their empty threats; they were easily done away with and not taken serious anymore.

Now, this was something else.

These people knew what they were doing, knew it better than Higa ever did. Oh, Higa had taken a lot of hostages during their time, crucial persons too, but they had been too showy about it, too careless in their pride. (Impressions dulled with age; back then Yuuji had been panicking as much, he just wouldn't admit to it anymore.

And if he could just remember and concede, he would find the confidence in himself and his friends to overcome this obstacle together.)

"So, can you play the CD without damaging your computer?" Yuuji directed the conversation to its origin. He felt a little calmer now, Hikaru's presence had that effect on him, or anyone hw trusted did.

"The fastest solution is to run it in a virtual machine, if you want to play it only once."

"Yeah, whatever. Don't computer babble me, just do it. I'll call up Shiraishi again, he needs to see it."

All it takes is the presence of someone else, to know that you're not alone in something, to help you find the strength within yourself to continue. Hikaru might be ignorant of what Yuuji had seen, but that same ignorance gave him an air of assurance:

Don't worry, just like Higa, those guys cannot beat us.


End file.
